Outkast made headlines earlier this year, reuniting to headline 40 festivals to celebrate the hip hop duo’s 20th anniversary. In a new interview in THE FADER, Andre 3000 admitted that he was less enthusiastic about performing the songs than he was about performing them in his newly-designed jumpsuits.
Andre says, “Honestly, just, you know—I didn’t wanna do the tour. We hadn’t performed in 10 years. It was old songs. I’m like, How am I gonna present these songs? I don’t have nothing new to say. So I was like, maybe I can start saying new stuff while doing these old songs. It became a theme where I was more excited about this than the actual show. This is fun, running out in these.” Thus, Andre 3000 designed jumpsuits with provoking quotes, like the one pictured below:
He explains that the messages were a way for him to make a statement, partially because he didn’t have anything to say with the music, and partially because he has no social media accounts. He said, “I live my life out on stage and everywhere else, I don’t necessarily have to tweet it out, but I felt like it was cool that I could say crazy thoughts or fun stuff. And I think it actually gets more attention because it is what it is instead of tweeting it. And Twitter, from what I know of, you only have a certain amount of characters, like 150.” He points to his chest and says, “My space was just right here.”
Rather than feeling bad about being a “sell-out,” Andre 3000 used the jumpsuits as a way of one-upping the joke. His quote: “I felt weird about going out on stage and doing it again. I felt like people would be like, ‘Y’all are doing all these festivals, y’all are just doing it for money.’ And I felt like a sell-out, honestly. So I was like, if I’m in on the joke, I’ll feel cool about it.” By being honest about his motivations (each jumpsuit had a giant SOLD tag on them), Andre 3000 could at least feel a little bit better about doing the reunion tour.
So why did he do the shows? “I’m 39, I got a 17-year-old kid, and I gotta support certain things. And my partner Big Boi is like, ‘This is a great thing for all of us.'” Hard to fault the man for wanting to support his family.
He concludes the interview saying, “It’s being honest about it like, ‘Shit, I did these songs when I was 17 and I’m out here pedaling them now.’ But it’s the honest thing, that’s what it is.”
The forty-seven jumpsuits designed by Andre 3000 are currently on exhibit at SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design, from now until December 14th.